Shinobi's lament
by youngmark
Summary: After the end of the Old World and the beggining of the Elemental Countries, the Lord of Darkness has return as the Chosen One. How will the Shinobi Realm fare against the Return of Count Dracula?


**Holy hell, it feels good to be back after months of laziness. But, I'm sorry to say, this story is not yet ready. I brought you this chapter to ask if any of you know of a somewhat precise chronology for the Shippuden movies? I already did the pre-shippuden ones, so might as well, right?**

**Shinobi's lament**

Within the walls of Konohagakure no Sato, a great battle was taking place between the Shinobi Forces of the village and the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the mightiest of the nine Bijuu. Originally, the fox was sealed within a woman, Kushina Uzumaki, who was the secret wife of the current Hokage, leader of the village, Minato Namikaze. The seal that holds a Bijuu is at its weakest when the vessel, if female, is pregnant.

Unfortunately, despite being hidden away, they were discovered by a masked man with the Sharingan, one of the most well-known Bloodline Limit, an hereditary skill, in Konohagakure. The man took the couple's newborn baby, Naruto, as hostage to approach Kushina. When the man threw Naruto in the air, Minato took it as a cue to save him. Unfortunately, Naruto's blanket was full of explosive tags, forcing the Hokage to teleport away to safely discard the blanket and taking Naruto somewhere safe. Even those few seconds were enough for the man to release the Kyuubi, take control of it with his Sharingan and unleash it upon the village.

Sneaking into the village unnoticed and taking control of the Kyuubi, Minato heard of only one man who had accomplished both of these things: Madara Uchiha, the most powerful Uchiha in history and co-founder of Konohagakure.

After safely taking his wife to their son, Minato fought the man he thought was Madara Uchiha and managed to break the contract between him and Kyuubi with a seal, forcing the man to retreat.

Now that he could focus on the Kyuubi, Minato summoned Gamabunta, chief of the Toad Summoning clan, and faced the mighty fox. During the battle, one of Kyuubi's attacks went for the building Minato left his wife and son for safety, forcing him to teleport to them and save them.

This is where our story starts...

**In the fields outside of Konoha and near the Kyuubi**

Minato, thanks to his Hirashin Jutsu, appeared in the field with his wife and son, exhausted.

Minato was a sun-kissed blond-haired man with two frontal bangs framing his face. He wore his white coat, with flame patterns, over his Jonin Flak jacket.

"Are you okay?" He asked his beautiful dark red-haired wife.

"Minato..." Kushina said, worried.

Minato chuckled. "Despite my exhaustion, I managed to get this far for both of you." He gently places his wife on the grass. "But I don't have much chakra left..."

As he said this, Kushina looked over her husband's shoulder and sees the fox looking around, searching for them. Due to his size, towering over the many trees around the village, he easily found them.

"I'll stop him... one way or another..." Minato promised. "There are things... I must protect... Precious... things..." He stood and faced the fox. "I will never give up... so long as I have that..."

"Wait..." Kushina called out. "I can still... do it..." She focused as chains made of her chakra shot out of her lower back, dug through the ground and restrained the fox from the ground below his feet.

**"These accursed chains again!?"** Kyuubi growled. **"KUSHINA!"** He roared in rage before the chains forced him to the ground.

Kushina started coughing, making Minato run towards her.

"I'll take... Kyuubi with me... to my death... to buy some time... before his next attack... It's all I can do... with what little chakra... I have left..." She panted.

Minato was doing his best not to cry. "Kushina... because of you... I became the Fourth Hokage... I became the man I am today... thanks to you." He hugged her. "And made me this child's father...! And yet, I'm useless..."

"Don't look so sad... I'm happy... to have been loved by you... to have become a mother... even in this moment... we should be happy... our family of three is together..." She smiled while lightly rubbing her baby's forehead with her thumb. "However... I wish I could see him grow up."

Her words echoed in Minato's mind. He knew a way to make her wish come true.

"Don't die..." He said. "Preserve your chakra for your reunion with Naruto."

"What?" She said, confused.

"I'll seal what's left of your chakra inside him as part of the Hakke no Fuin. And I'll take the Kyuubi with me... with the Shiki Fuin!"

"But you will die if you use it!" Kushina exclaimed.

"I'll only take half of Kyuubi with me... And leave the rest for Naruto inside the Hakke no Fuin..." He said.

Kushina's eyes widened in horror.

"I know what you're going to say... But I realized something today... Naruto is the savior Jiraiya-Sensei thought I would become... By being the World's savior as a Jinchuuriki, the other Countries will no longer see Jinchuuriki as weapons of war."

"But what about before then!?" Kushina said.

Minato stood up, faced the fox once more and summoned the Shinigami. "Let's believe in him!"

Shinigami's left hand pierced through Minato's soul before extending and grabbing onto the Kyuubi.

"Seal!" Minato yelled.

Shinigami yanked half of Kyuubi's chakra and left it inside Minato.

Due to losing half of his chakra, Kyuubi shrunk in size. Compared to before, where, even restrained, he was still towering over the trees, he was now, still restrained, barely the height of said trees.

Minato turned to Kushina and summoned an altar for the Eight Trigrams Sealing. He gently took Naruto from Kushina's arms and placed him on the crib.

Looking at the family of three, Shinigami disappeared with a smirk on his face. All of that went completely unnoticed by the parents.

**"An altar!? YOU ARE NOT SEALING ME AGAIN!" **Kyuubi roared as he kept struggling.

Kushina started coughing again, which loosened the chains' grip on Kyuubi. The fox did not hesitate for second; it was his only chance for freedom. He raised his right hand to pierce Naruto with a claw.

However, both parents blocked the claw with their bodies, preventing it from reaching their child.

The Shinigami reappeared just in time for the Jutsu, his disappearance unnoticed by the parents, who were focused entirely on their child. He smirked when he saw the Hokage sealed his wife's chakra and his own into the seal. When both parents said their final words to their child, the Hokage proceeded with the sealing. Shinigami took what was left of Kyuubi and sealed it inside Naruto. With the fox gone, both parents let out their final breathe and passed away.

With nobody around to observe him, Shinigami turned into his old skeleton and cloak form, pulled out a glowing jet black orb and placed it on Naruto's chest. The orb disappeared within Naruto, who stirred awake. He opened his cerulean eyes and looked at Shinigami. The baby's eyes flashed red for a moment before returning to cerulean. His eyes widened, as if recognising the deity.

**"Welcome back to the world of the living... My Lord Dracula."** Shinigami greeted. **"The highly ranked people of this village know of your new body's birth, therefore, you will have to play along as a human before making your return. Fortunately, I was not only able to place your soul in this body, but the Power of Dominance as well. How... nostalgic."** His lord's eyes showed amusement, also remembering his time as Soma Cruz.

**"I only ask that you play along for a time. When the time is right, I will personally bring you back to your Castle and we shall prepare your return."** With his lord's nod of acknowledgement, Death disappeared.

**Chapter 1: Graduation**

**12 years later**

Naruto was sitting at the swing in front of the academy after failing the Graduation Exam. He simply had too much chakra to make bunshin, which, amusingly enough, was useless in a real battle. It baffled him how such a useless jutsu was a requirement for graduation.

Naruto was short for his age, but that was mostly because ramen was the only food he could afford. He also wore a ridiculous orange jumpsuit. Again, that was all the civilians were willing to sell him.

The parents that were congratulating their children were also talking behind Naruto's back amongst adults.

_"Fools, the whole lot of them."_ Naruto thought. They thought he was the Kyuubi reincarnated. What they didn't know was that he was something far more terrifying. Additionally, he wasn't even the Kyuubi vessel. The Power of Dominance had turned Kyuubi into a soul for him to use. Of course, nobody, except him, knew that, not even old man Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. The old man was forced to take his position after the Yondaime's death.

Speaking of his father, his parents' chakra also turned into souls. It was odd. Outside of Dimitrii Blinov's trickery, he never had 'dominance' over a human soul. Was it because they were sealed within him? Possibly. It was definitely worth investigating.

"Hey, Naruto!" He heard a voice call out to him. He looked to his right to see Mizuki, one of his sensei. Although Naruto knew Mizuki pretended to like him, if the glares he gave him when he thought he wasn't looking were any indication.

Mizuki had shoulder-length white hair with a hint of blue as well as green eyes. He was wearing the standard Chunin Flak jacket.

"Iruka-sensei isn't failing you just to be a jerk, you know." The chunin teacher said.

"I know that." Naruto sighed. "Both of you have heard my complaints about the bunshin multiple times. There's just nothing you two can do about it. If it weren't for that, I definitely would have graduated."

Mizuki smiled. "You're right. That's why I'll tell you about a secret exam."

Naruto looked at his sensei with a raised eyebrow. _"What are you planning?"_

**Hours later, evening**

Naruto was sitting in front of a shack in the middle of the forest with a large scroll in his hands. Mizuki told him to steal a scroll called the Scroll of Sealing and learn from it. The catch was that he couldn't tell anyone or else, he'd fail. Naruto scoffed. Could Mizuki have been any more obvious? But he played along. Afterall, there was the possibility of finding something that would more than make up for his inaptitude with the bunshin.

"Let's see... First Jutsu on the list is... Kage Bunshin." He smirked. The Clone Jutsu that gives unused chakra and memories back to the original once cancelled. Through his parents' souls, he already knew the Jutsu, but thanks to stealing the scroll, he could now use it without people asking questions.

He read the rest of the scroll and only found fuinjutsu instructions. Lacking a brush, ink and blank scroll, he couldn't practice them. Sighing, he rolled the scroll and waited. A couple of hours later, his second sensei, Iruka Umino, landed in front of him.

Iruka had brown hair that he kept in a ponytail, dark eyes and a scar that runs across the bridge of his nose. Like Mizuki, he wore the Chunin Flak jacket.

"Hey, Naruto." Iruka said, his tone disapproving. **(Should've said this earlier, this Naruto isn't a prankster and listens in class. There's no way Dracula would be hyperactive and disorganized.)**

"You found me already, Iruka-sensei. I bet everyone's looking all over for me." Naruto said.

"Why did you do this?" Iruka asked.

"Because even if it was a trick from Mizuki, I couldn't let this opportunity slip away." He answered.

Immediately, the sound of incoming kunai grew closer, making Iruka push Naruto away and being the sole target of the many projectiles.

"I'm surprised you found this place, Iruka." Mizuki's voice echoed through the woods.

"So that's how it is..." Iruka said.

Mizuki was on top of a branch with two giant shuriken strapped to his back.

"Naruto, hand me the scroll." He demanded.

"Don't let him get the scroll, Naruto!" Iruka called out.

"Why would he trust you over me, Iruka? At least I tell him valuable secrets." Mizuki had a smirk on his face. "Speaking of secrets..."

Iruka's eyes widened. "MIZUKI, NO!"

"12 years ago, a rule was created after an incident. A rule we can't let you find out, Naruto. A rule saying that we can't tell you that you are the Kyuubi no Kitsune!"

Iruka was looking at Naruto with horror and Mizuki was smirking, the latter waiting for a reaction from the whiskered blond.

"Mizuki, I know I have birthmarks on my cheek that look like a fox's whiskers, that I was born on the same day the fox attacked _and_ that I have _way_ too much chakra for a kid my age, but I'm pretty sure that if I literally was a fox that was as enormous as the Hokage Mountain, I would know." Naruto said.

Mizuki frowned at the lack of panic and twirled one of the shuriken. "There is no use denying what you are! DIE FOX BRAT!" He yelled, throwing the shuriken.

Naruto easily sidestepped the shuriken. "That's not going to work at this distance."

"You're right." Mizuki jumped down from the tree and ran towards Naruto with the second shuriken. "I'LL JUST RAM IT THROUGH YOUR HEART MYSELF!"

Naruto smirked and moved his two pointer and middle fingers to form a cross. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Smoke filled the area in an instant. When it disappeared, Mizuki dropped his shuriken in shock and fear when he saw that he was surrounded by hundreds of Naruto.

_"Kage Bunshin... Solid clones..."_ Iruka thought in awe. _"He said he had a lot of chakra but... enough to create hundreds of solid clones? This is insane!"_

A clone behind Mizuki ran up to him and kicked him in the back of the knee, bringing him down to said knee. At that moment, all of the other clones charged.

The real Naruto walked up to Iruka. "Need a hand?"

Iruka smiled. "Before you help me, could you close your eyes for a minute?"

Naruto shrugged and did so.

After a moment, Iruka told him he could open his eyes. When he did he saw that Iruka no longer had his headband.

"Congratulation on your graduation, you deserve it."

Naruto smiled. "Thank you, Iruka-sensei."

Both of them started walking towards the village, with a few clones dragging the beaten Mizuki.

Iruka never saw the smirk on Naruto's face.

A few days later, Naruto had to have his picture taken for his Shinobi Registration Form before showing it to the Hokage, who deemed it satisfactory. Immediately afterwards, the Sandaime's grandson, Konohamaru, tried to attack the old man to gain the title of Godaime Hokage... and tripped on his own scarf before he could even attack.

Naruto facepalmed.

A man in a completely blue uniform, wearing sunglasses, entered the room and approached Konohamaru.

"Are you all right, Honorable Grandson?" he asked Konohamaru. He then saw Naruto in the room. _"The Fox Brat!"_

Konohamaru turned his eyes to Naruto.

"You tripped me, didn't you!?" He said, pointing at the blond.

"You tripped on your own, brat." Naruto responded, flicking Konohamaru on the nose.

"How dare you!?" The sunglasses-wearing man called out. "This is the Sandaime Hokage's Grandson!"

Naruto looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "And I should worship him just because of his family? He hasn't done anything to deserve that." Naruto turned towards the Sandaime, who waved him off, saying they were done with the registration.

Once Naruto left the room, the teacher told Konohamaru not to get near Naruto, because he is nothing but trouble. Konohamaru would listen, right? Of course he would, Ebisu is never wrong.

...Except that Konohamaru slipped away in the middle of the lecture, when Ebisu wasn't looking.

**Street of Konoha**

Konohamaru was tailing Naruto... and doing a bad job at it. When Naruto stopped and turned around, Konohamaru tried hiding between a wooden fence and a camouflage cloth of a wooden fence... though there was one problem.

"You're holding it sideways." Naruto called out.

Konohamaru looked at the cloth before sheepishly scratching the back of his head. "Oops."

"So what do you want?" Naruto asked.

"I want you to train me!" Konohamaru said.

Naruto blinked. "Train you? I just graduated from the academy. There isn't anything I can teach you that you won't learn there." Naruto lied. He _could_ teach the Kage Bunshin, but he doubted the kid had the chakra for it. Not that he would teach anyone anything in the first place, anyway.

Konohamaru's shoulders slumped. "But Ebisu-sensei said there was a shortcut to becoming Hokage..."

"Then he's an idiot." Konohamaru looked at Naruto in surprise. "The Shodaime didn't take the easy way, the Nidaime didn't either and neither did the Yondaime. I'm certain the Old Man Sandaime didn't take any shortcut, so why would his grandson do such a thing? If you want to surpass your Gramps, you'll have to work twice as hard as he did."

Konohamaru stood straight. "You're right! I have to find Ebisu-sensei and get even more training! Later, boss!" He said, running off.

Naruto sighed and went on his way.

Another couple of days later and it was time to return to the academy for the team placement.

Naruto was calmly walking towards the academy. On the way, he saw a familiar bump on a wooden fence.

"Still sideways, Konohamaru!" He called out.

"Aww." Konohamaru whined. "Maybe I should look at the front after pulling it out."

"You'll get it down eventually." Naruto said. "Anyway, sorry to disappoint, but I have to get to the academy to be placed on a team."

"Oh, that's right! You graduated!" Konohamaru realized. "You'll have to tell me what being a shinobi is like, one day!"

"No problem. See ya later." Naruto said, walking away.

**Classroom of graduates**

Naruto had taken a seat and was waiting for Iruka and the few students that hadn't already arrived.

"Why are you here, Naruto?" A boy with a pineapple hairstyle asked him. "The team placement is for graduates."

"Are you so lazy that you can't look over my eyes, Shikamaru?" Naruto asked, pointing to headband on his forehead with his thumb. "I did graduate."

A few seats away from the two, a dark blue-haired with pupil-less lavender eyes was looking at Naruto with a blush, happy that he had graduated.

Rapid footsteps were heard outside of the classroom. Two girls, one pink-haired and one blonde-haired (lighter shade than his sun-kissed blond), entered the classroom. Both of them thought they had won a race.

_"Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka."_ Naruto thought, looking at the pinkette and the blonde, respectively.

"Naruto! Get up from that chair! I wanna sit next to Sasuke!" Sakura demanded.

Naruto blinked before looking at the seat next to him and saw a boy with black hair that was spiky at the back and frontal bangs framing his face.

"Oh... Hey, Sasuke. Didn't see you there." Naruto said nonchalantly.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, making most girls in the class sigh in adoration.

"Well!? Are you gonna get up?" Sakura urged.

"There is a free seat between Sasuke and I, you know." Naruto stated.

Sakura blinked and blushed in embarrassment when she saw that there was, indeed, a free seat.

Before the girls of the class could argue for the free seat, Iruka arrived in the class. Everyone had taken a seat and Iruka had said who was in team 1 through 6.

"Team 7 will be Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha."

Sakura yelled in joy as she found that she was in her crush's team.

The lavender-eyed girl was saddened that she wasn't in the same team as Naruto.

"Next, Team 8. Hinata Hyuuga." Iruka called out.

The lavender-eyed girl snapped out of her thoughts. "Y-Yes!"

"Kiba Inuzuka." A feral-faced, brown-haired boy with a dog in his jacket smirked.

"Shino Aburame." A brown-haired boy wearing a grey coat hiding the lower half of his face pushed his sunglasses up to the bridge of his nose.

Sakura gave Ino, who was seated behind her, a smug look. Team 9 was announced as this happened.

"Next, Team 10. Ino Yamanaka. Shikamaru Nara."

Ino's eyes widened in shock while Shikamaru sighed.

"And... Chouji Akimichi!" A chubby brown-haired boy wearing his headband like a bandana was eating potato chips since he entered the classroom.

At this point, Ino had slumped on her desk.

"You will all meet your new sensei this afternoon. Until then, you're free to go.

When the student had to return in the afternoon, Naruto and his teammates had the misfortune of having a sensei that was 3 HOURS LATE!

A jonin with gravity-defying hair entered the class. He had a facemask covering the lower half of his face and the left side of his headband was tilted downward to cover his left eye.

"My first impression of you guys is... you're lame." Sasuke and Sakura deadpanned at the man's statement.

"And my first impression of you, sensei, is that you're a pathetic ninja for not making it in time." Naruto shot back.

"NARUTO!" Sakura yelled in indignation, despite silently agreeing with him.

The man chuckled. "If you say so. Why don't we all go have a chat on the roof?"

**Academy rooftop**

"Well then, how about we start by introducing ourselves?" The man asked.

"How about you go first, since we don't even know your name?" Naruto reminded.

"That sounds reasonable. Alright then, my name is Kakashi Hatake. My likes and dislikes are not any of your business. I have a few hobbies. And that's about it."

_"All we got was his name."_ Sakura sweatdropped.

"Well then, how about you, blondie?" Kakashi urged.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. And I say trust goes both ways, so that's all you'll hear from me." Why should he reveal anything? None of them will matter to him in the future.

Although it was unnoticeable, Kakashi's lips twitched upwards at how his sensei's son was constantly jabbing at his habits "Alright then, next." His lone eye turned to Sakura.

"I'm Sakura Haruno! My likes are... uuhhh..." Her eyes turned to Sasuke for a moment. "My hobby... M-My dream..." She was simply too focused on Sasuke to say anything...

"Dislikes?" Kakashi asked.

"INO!" She called out immediately.

_"Girls her age are more interested in love than in training. Hope I can fix that."_ Kakashi sighed. "Last one." He urged.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things and like very few things. I do not have a dream, but I have an ambition: To restore my clan and kill a certain man."

_"As expected after what happened to him." _Kakashi thought. "Alright, you three all have unique personalities. I like that. We will begin a mission, starting tomorrow. A test, if you will, of what each of you can do through Survival training."

"Why are we going to train if it's a mission?" Sakura asked. "We've had plenty of training at the academy."

"This isn't the same." Kakashi said. "Every team has Survival Training upon their formation. And only three teams per graduation successfully complete the training and become Genin, while the rest go back to the academy for an extra year."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, Sakura's widened in horror and Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"W-Wait! What were the graduation exams for, then!?" Sakura asked.

"That just serves the purpose of picking who has the potential to become Genin." Kakashi answered. "Come to Training Grounds 7 at 5 A.M., with your shinobi equipment. And be sure to not eat breakfast, you'll just puke it out."

Naruto wasn't fooled. Kakashi _purposely_ arrived 3 hours late this day and he would definitely do it again. Waking up before dawn, not eat breakfast and possibly wait 3 hours for their sensei? Not a chance.

**Training Grounds 7 - 7:55 A.M.**

Naruto arrived at the Training Grounds and saw both of his teammates, waiting. Sakura looked ready to fall asleep and Sasuke looked completely fine, if a little annoyed.

"Don't tell me you guys actually listened to him?" He asked, getting his teammates' attention.

"WHERE WERE YOU!?" Sakura demanded.

"I simply guessed he would late again and it looks like I was right." Naruto sighed as he remembered something. "If you had to wait this long, please tell me you at least ate breakfast."

Both of his teammates' stomachs growled at the word 'breakfast', making him facepalm.

A few minutes later, Kakashi arrived. "Good morning, everyone."

"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura yelled.

"Well, a black cat crossed my path, so-" Kakashi stopped when he saw that no one was believing it. "Well, let's move on."

Kakashi walked towards one of the three logs in the training ground and placed an alarm clock on it. Definitely arrives late on purpose.

"Alarm set at noon." He said before pulling out two tiny bells. "Today's goal is to take one of the bells from me. Whoever can't do it will not have lunch."

"What?" Sakura shrieked.

Kakashi pointed the logs. "I will tie you up to one of these and eat it in front of you."

Both Sasuke and Sakura's stomachs growled once more, making Naruto sigh again.

"Wait! Why are there two bells? There are three of us." Sakura asked.

Kakashi's lone eye closed and formed a 'U' shape, like he was smiling. "Since there's only two, at least one will be tied to the log. That one will fail because he failed to complete the mission and will go back to the academy. Will only one of you fail...or all three of you? Definitely all three, if you don't come at me with the intent to kill."

"But that's dangerous, Sensei!" Sakura claimed. "You could get hurt!"

Kakashi 'eye-smiled'. "Don't worry about me. Ready? Start!" All three students jumped away to hide.

_"The basic for a ninja is to conceal his presence and hide."_ Kakashi thought as he looked around.

Sasuke and Naruto were hiding in the trees while Sakura was in the bushes.

"Not bad for beginners." Kakashi said. "Now then, which lesson shall I go for first...? Ladies first as they say."

**With Sakura**

_"Where is Sasuke-kun? Did Kakashi-sensei already get him?"_ Sakura wondered. _"No! That can't happen! Not to Sasuke-kun!"_

She stopped when she saw Kakashi in a clearing in front of her. _"Good, he didn't spot me."_

"Sakura, behind you." She heard behind her. She turned her head and saw Kakashi.

Her scream of terror was heard throughout the training ground.

After her scream, Kakashi disappeared.

"Huh... Where did sensei go?" She wondered, looking around.

"Sakura..." She heard someone call out behind her. It was Sasuke's voice!

She turned around. "Sasuke-ku-" Her eyes widened in horror at what she saw. Sasuke was extremely wounded. He also had a few kunai and shuriken on his bloody wounds.

"S-Sakura..." Sasuke panted. "Help...me."

Sakura, once again, screamed in terror before falling unconscious.

"Maybe I overdid it." Kakashi said from atop a tree. "But she should have checked if it was real or a Genjutsu."

Further away, Sasuke heard the scream. "Was that Sakura?"

"It was." Kakashi said from behind him. "I'm disappointed she fell for the Genjutsu so easily."  
>Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Genjutsu; an illusion. It's no wonder she fell so easily. But I'm different from her."<p>

"Why don't you say that after you get a bell?" Kakashi asked.

Sasuke turned around to face his opponent.

Both of them stood in silence for a couple of seconds before Sasuke threw a couple of shuriken, which Kakashi easily dodged.

"Normal attacks won't help you like that." The Jonin said.

Sasuke smirked as he threw a kunai through a tripwire.

"A trap?" Kakashi jumped away from the kunai that were thrown from the trap.

When Sasuke appeared behind him, Kakashi turned around to block a kick. He grabbed the ankle before blocking a punch. Sasuke twisted his body to send a second kick from above. Kakashi responded by placing his right arm, still holding the ankle, over his head to block.

Sasuke smirked as his position allowed access to the bells, which Kakashi quickly realized and jumped away as Sasuke reached out.

"You're indeed different, I'll admit." Kakashi said.

Sasuke merely grunted before doing a pattern of handsigns that Kakashi was very familiar with. "It can't be! A Genin shouldn't even have enough chakra to-"

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Sasuke called out before breathing out a large fireball straight at Kakashi.

When Sasuke stopped the Jutsu and the smoke from the fire cleared, Kakashi was nowhere to be found.

Sasuke started looking around. "Is he behind me? No, above?"

"Try below." He heard under his feet before a hand grabbed his ankle.

"Doton: Shinjuuzanshu no Jutsu!" Kakashi called out before burying Sasuke from the neck down.

Sakura heard Sasuke scream and ran towards the direction and found a clearing... with Sasuke's head on the ground.

"Sakura." Sasuke called out.

Sakura screamed in terror at seeing a 'disembodied' head and passed out.

Sasuke deadpanned. "What's wrong with her?"

After Sasuke successfully dug himself, he checked up on Sakura, who was regaining consciousness.

Upon seeing Sasuke was fine, she hugged with all her strength.

**With Kakashi**

The Jonin was in the middle of a clearing, reading his favorite book, Icha Icha Paradise.

"Well? Aren't you going to try anything?" He asked.

"What's the point?" Naruto said from the top of a tree. "I don't have a unique fighting style like Sasuke, my massive chakra reserves make my chakra control too abysmal for Genjutsu and I got no Ninjutsu to defeat you."

"What about that Kinjutsu you use to defeat Mizuki?"

Naruto snorted. "Althought your '5 A.M., no breakfast' trick was just as obvious as Mizuki's own attempt, you're nowhere near as pitiful or stupid as him. All I can do now is _survive. _And I think I did pretty well for myself." As if on cue, the alarm clock rang, indicating noon.

Naruto and Sasuke were seated next to the log that Sakura was tied to. The latter two's stomachs were growling without end.

"You guys are hungry, eh?" Kakashi asked. "Well, I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that none of you need to return to the academy."

Sakura cheered, despite being tied to a log, and Sasuke smirked. Naruto waited for the bad news.

"The bad news is... the three of you should stop being ninja in the first place!"

Sasuke frowned, Sakura was horrified and Naruto remained stoic.

Sasuke charged at Kakashi, who effortlessly restrained him.

"Do you think being a ninja is easy? You didn't even figure the point of this test."

"Teamwork." Naruto said immediately, catching Kakashi's attention. He had seen enough Belmont-Belnades team-ups to know that.

The Jonin frowned. "If you knew the answer, why didn't you do anything?"

"Have you actually paid attention to these two? One's a brooder who ignores everything around him and the other is a fangirl who believes her knight in shining armor will always be there for her and that everything is fine, so long as he's around. I'm willing to do my part, but these two are in their own little world.

"And you are not?" Kakashi asked.

"I had to live by myself... I couldn't afford being a kid." He lied. In this body, he never was a child.

Kakashi narrowed his eye for a moment. "All right. I'll give you one more chance. But this will much harsher after lunch. Eat lunch if you're up for the challenge. But! Sakura doesn't get anything. Feed her and you will all fail." With his part said, Kakashi left.

Sasuke immediately grabbed one of the two bentos and started eating. Naruto opened the second bento and turned to face Sakura.

She glared at him. "What? You're gonna eat it straight in front of me?"

Naruto scoffed. "Of course not, idiot, I'm going to feed you."

Sakura's eyes widened. "But Sensei said-"

"Did you even hear what I said earlier?" He interrupted. "I'm willing to do my part for the team, even if I had the worst teammates possible. I hate the fact that my two teammates don't care about me, but I've known for a _long_ time that life is unfair."

Sakura, in her shock, couldn't do anything but accept Naruto's offer. But the moment Sakura swallowed a bit of food, a cloud of smoke appeared out of nowhere.

"You!" Kakashi called out to Naruto. "I said not to feed her! What do you have to say!?"

"The same I told you earlier. I'm willing to do my part for the team. If you have a problem with that, you only need to come forward." Naruto said.

Sasuke stood next to Naruto, a kunai in hand.

"You stand by him?" Kakashi asked.

"Of course." Sasuke said as he braced himself. "We're teammates."

"That's right! We're a team!" Sakura claimed.

Kakashi stayed silent for a moment before he eye-smiled and the sky cleared. "You all pass!" He said jovially.

Naruto immediately grabbed a kunai and cut the ropes restraining Sakura.

"We passed? But why?" She asked while stretching her arms.

"Because unlike the other blockheads that I tested, you remained a team instead of just listening to everything I said. A ninja must look underneath the underneath. In the ninja world, those who break the rules are called trash. But those who abandon their comrades are lower than trash."

Naruto whistled, Sakura was awed and Sasuke smirked.

Kakashi gave his new team a thumbs-up. "Team 7 will start doing missions starting tomorrow!"

Sasuke remained smirking, Sakura cheered and Naruto was leaning against a log.

"Let's go home." Kakashi said as he started leaving.

Sasuke grabbed his bento and left with Sakura following suit.

Naruto looked up to the sky. _"This world is filled with threats greater than the Belmonts. I'll have to learn as much as I can if I want to stand at the top."_ He thought before he, too, returned 'home'.

**Hope you've enjoyed what I did so far. Like I said up top, chronology for the Shippuden movies would be highly appreciated.**


End file.
